I have now had this current flare-up for 3weeks, and I am no better. In fact, I'm worse, as I have been taking prednisolone, but today is my last day as I'm not allowed them after 3weeks. I have severe shortness of breath, and heavy coughing fits(dry cough only). I have had 3visits to the doctors, and next week I'm scheduled to have blood tests, an ecg, and a chest x Ray. My chest hurts from all the coughing and no medicines have helped with this.
One of the o.t.c. medicines that has helped me in the past is do-do chest -eze. However, I've been told this product has been discontinued.What else can I do, I'm really struggling, and also have the worry that I may have something worse than my usual copd flare-up. Any advice or suggestions please?
Someone shared this link ....Great information for pulmonary wellness....lots of info....make sure to check out the whole site, specially the webinars. pulmonarywellness.com/webin...
Sorry this has been going on LadyClaraby but tbh even well people are struggling this winter.
Why are you only allowed to take pred for three weeks? Ive never heard of that though of course I don't know your medical situation. And will you be tapering the dose down gradually, as going cold turkey after three weeks could itself cause a kickback, giving you yet more breathlessness.
I find a hot water bottle held to the chest can help with coughing pain. Also can your pharmacist not recommend a product which is close to the one you took which has been discontinued?
Wishing you luck for your tests and hoping they come back normal.
Thank you for your response. I have been tapering down the prednisolone from 6 to 1. I was told that's what they do! Unless of course I take my spares... The chemist hasn't come up with anything other than cough sweets, and to follow the doctors advice! But I'm really breathless and the cough is so persistent, it's even worse at night, when lying down, so I've hardly slept in days!
I have had numerous flare-ups in the last Decade or so, but they have all got better or much improved after3 weeks. Hence my worry that this one hasn't.
When I had a flare up I slept upright on 4 pillows and my husband bought a small humidifier to moisten the air. That helped me stop coughing. Also plenty of drinks during the day. Tea with honey is soothing. Good Luck with your tests xx
Thank you.I 'll look up the links. I did try the. blf helpline the other day, and the girl who answered said she couldn't give me any medical advice. She took my number and said someone would ring me back. Unfortunately, nobody has!
• in reply to
Oh how awful for you!!!
Worth telling Ben and MrsMummy the moderators!!!
Now it’s the weekend..
Do you have the COPD emergency number at your local hospital??
There is normally a respiratory nurse on call.
I would try old fashioned soothing remedies ( thyme tea ,hot lemon and honey) while you wait if you cannot face going to A&E or a walk-in centre but if you are SOB you should not hesitate to phone emergency services.
let us know how you are getting on xx
Fran
Take care
• in reply to
Thanks, Fran. The s.o.b is manageable if I can sit down in the warm and chill. But I have 2teenage daughters to ferry to school and college and do the shopping, cooking etc, which is not helping. The cough is relentless. I'm having lots of honey and lemon, and even a turmeric, cashew nut and honey drink.! Can't shift it though. The doc said they don't treat coughs!
It is horrible what you are going through. I've experienced it myself. However, what I do know is that if you are getting up and going out every morning you are not going to get better. Your cough is going to be re-ignited every day. I don't know if it is possible, but could your teenage daughters manage to go to school/college for a week via public transport, just to give you time to recover? I have done what you are doing and ended up having one chest infection after another. It ended up with pneumonia, after a few years and more severe damage to the lungs.
You need to be a bit more selfish and look after yourself, which is easier said than done.
Do take care.
• in reply to
Hi Hidden
Really sorry to hear this.
Can you PM me your details and I'll make sure you get a call on Monday.
LadyClaraby, suggest you sleep in a recliner chair, with the feet raised and the torso only slightly tilted. This greatly helps me. I have not laid down or slept prone in almost 6 years now. Best Wishes, judg69
Nippets are pretty good at soothing a dry tickly cough, they also help to clear mucus in the throat providing it isn't too bad. They're mainly liquorice or there's a liquorice and aniseed variety, a lot like Imps (which are no longer available), I have a small tin of them under my pillow 'just in case'. They've not let me down yet but I suppose it depends on the severity of the cough - worth trying though if you aren't able to find anything else. I get mine from Treasure Island Sweets online but I've seen them in some small chemists shops as well.
Hello LadyClaraby, I know what your going through and it's scary to say the least. Especially when you can't get your breath, the more you panic the worse it gets. Do you do your breathing excersise? Gently in through your nose and then breath out through pursed lips. I know you can't do that when you can't breath properly , but once you calm yourself down , try it. When you go to your G.P ask him for medication to help break up your cough. So sorry to hear that your struggling, and I hope you feel better soon ✋️😊
The breathing exercises help ,except when I have to go out in the cold. Both the doc and copd nurse have said they don't prescribe anything for coughs nowadays, as they try to treat the cause!
treating the treating the cause and treating the symptoms are not mutually exclusive I am not familiar with how you find your doctor's but maybe you need another one
Hi LadyClaraby, you may already do this, but the doctor said to my mum to cover her nose n mouth with a scarf to try to reduce the shock of the cold air. Dont know if it works but probably cant hurt. Hope you get better soon. X
actually the actually the person that breathing is meant to help you recover your breath you just do it a little more quickly in the beginning breathe in through your nose to a two count breathe slowly through pursed lips until you've emptied everything that you possibly can from your lungs then take a deep breath through your nose keep doing it.
Thank you. My breathing is improving, when I'm resting now. It's just worse when moving around, especially going upstairs, and going outside. My cough is no better though. I'm also feeling quite clammy from chest upwards.
Hi first time ive commented or wrote on this site .but i have been haveing excact same as you diogned copd and emphasemia 4 yrs ago .oxygen supplied at home now .but i take Carbocisteine .to thin the mucas out and Omeprazole .for stomach .i have prednisolone wich ive needed for past 2 weeks .just got repeat prescription .but trying to hold out from takeing .will do as back up as i normally have in .hope yours gets easier .x sue
LadyClaraby, boy I’m sure sorry you’re in such discomfort but just think how much ab muscle building you’ve been doing I know your ribs hurt terribly. Have you ever had pneumonia? Sounds a lot like when I have it, I’ve had pneumonia w/dry cough and mucus cough. But your healthcare professional shoulda ruled this out first(at least that’s what mine do) or were you in any high pollution area before you got sick, you could’ve possibly aggravated those little bronchi’s in there that are so fragile an easily disrupted but the prednisone should of knocked that possibility out. Be real careful w/steroids especially when they give antibiotics w/it, last time that combo tore up my stomach so badly I was vomiting for 4 days straight and couldn’t keep food down to save my own life. Your chest X-ray should reveal the big mystery. Get well soon, plenty of liquids and LOTS of rest
Hi LadyClaraby, there is an online site medinachemist.com that has these in stock. Must be awful for you, try to keep warm and rest up as much as you can, ha! Impossible with teenagers in the house. Irene x
Sorry to read of your struggles right now. Found my Mum on the floor yesterday morning so got ambulance etc admitted to hospital; they discovered she has pneumonia again! Looking back; I can see the similarities to the last time and she had just started steroids again because she knew something was up but as usual played it down etc.
So today it’s her 81st birthday (which frankly is a miracle) and she will be spending the next few days in the local hospital which have always been absolutely great for her and the staff been wonderful every time.
So I hope your flare up eases but whilst I do not want to panic you or anyone maybe bear this in mind. I always thought pneumonia would be obvious but not at all, and this is the third time in the last year.
Hi Phil, sorry to hear your mum's ill. I don't know if it's pneumonia- I did have that 2years ago, but at least then I had a productive cough, and as the mucous went I started to get better. I even lost half a stone, so I jokingly rejected the vaccination this year, saying it would be a good way to lose weight. I guess we must learn by our mistakes.
I haven't smoked or even wanted to for the duration so I'm hoping this will be permanent, and every cloud has a silver lining. Just hope I haven't left it too late.
It’s great to get a silver lining of stopping smoking, it’s never too late to stop it’s always going to be better not smoking than smoking.
I gave up smoking about 21 years ago, I was fortunate: right head space etc, because I know how hard it is to any addiction and I do not kid myself of ever being cured or immune to relapse around anything because that’s how my head is wired.
Try not to smoke a day at a time, or a half day at a time or whatever you need to do to get through any cravings.
Hope you start feeling better and hope your abstinence continues.
At present, I feel so poorly that smoking is certainly the last thing on my mind. I had been on a 12 week no smoking course, cutting down about 1 cig daily each week. I'd just got down to one a day when this awful flare up started.!
A lot of research done around substance addiction has used smoking to develop therapies etc because it is as serious an addiction as any and also because people tended to respond to research more truthfully due to the difference in opinion around ‘legal respectable’ tobacco and illicit drugs.
I guess my long winded point is make no mistake; beating anything is a serious bit of work and addiction is the only disease that tells you that you are cured.
But you can beat it just never minimise the effort it can take, the changes you may have to make and how well you are doing in trying to stop and get healthier.
Hope that makes sense and doesn’t sound patronising, it’s just my thoughts etc right now as my Mum is lying in hospital on her birthday on IV antibiotics again.
Thanks Phil, I just hate the thought of ever smoking again after what it has done to me and hope the thought stays with me. I am thankful that my children are anti smoking. Of course, when I was a teenager, it was practically encouraged to smoke and quite fashionable.! How times have changed!
I have recently found that taking Co-codamol 30mg/500mg helps to stop my coughing fits. You will have to get them from your GP as such a strong dose. Worth a try.
I have a few similar pills left over from another problem, and found they do help. As I don't want to get addicted, and they make me constipated, I'm trying them every 3 days, along with laxatives.
I'm not bringing anything up, which is unusual, as I always have done before. I did have one week of antibiotics, but was told I didn't need any more as my chest was clear. I do find this confusing as I feel worse than with previous flare ups ,particularly after3 weeks.
they might not treat coughs but the cough is a symptom of your illness which should be treated.
When I have had these flares I started to drink elderberry tea pure leaves hourly. It really has helped as it's a natural anti inflammatory remedie . It does send you to the toilet but my cough is reduced. At night I use an aloe Vera spray and this has helped . Plus raising my bed slightly . All the best .
I have an over-the-counter meds that help me...Simple Linctus and bronchial Balsam, available in UK at cheap discount shops Poundland and Poundstretcher etc.. I have slept for lots of years Propped up on 5 pillows with a few drops of Olbas oil or Wintergreen oil on socks. Chest X-ray will show up areas of infection and blood test will show up inflamation markers and White blood count, so the Doctors can go from there.....meantime keep warm and well hydrated. Get better soon LadyClaraby.
Thank you. I'm using olbas oil. Still no improvement overall after4 weeks now. I get 3 or 4 hours sleep if I'm lucky, then wake up coughing like mad, and covered in sweat from chest to head. I'm also getting intermittent stand by pains in my head and hope things improve soon.
I have had a terrible cough since Christmas and now in my 3rd course of anti biotics . Nothing seems to be working for me either this year. Chest x ray showed nothing much.Had to go for a ct scan a few days ago. Cannot lay flat and my ribs ache with the coughing. Never had a flare up that lasted this long . Living on strepsils etc. Hope you feel better soon .
Still as bad with my chest and have not heard anything re the ct scan! Have had 1 week on abs have another week but still sob at the least thing( which is only since Christmas !) am away abroad in a few days for 3 weeks Thailand .so look like going in this condition. Have decided yesterday to start my rescue prednisolone(again) for 7 days as a final resort to get right before I go. Am worried that when the abs are finished I’ll be back to chest infection again which will not be as easy to deal with abroad but I have to go! Hope you are improving??
Wow honey, it sure sounds like you have a lot going on with yourself, the only thing you can do now is pray because this sounds like something only God can help you with. But when you go to your doctor next see what he suggests. God give man the power to help us in these situations all the time so I'm quite sure the is something to help you. Don't give up, just have faith....Take care and let us know your outcome. I will also be praying with you.
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